North Dakota regulators have proposed a $2,750 fine for soil erosion that happened near a coal-hauling road at the Beulah Mine late last month.

A spokeswoman for the mine's owner, Dakota Westmoreland Corp., said Wednesday the company did not plan to contest the penalty. The soil damage has been repaired, Diane Jones said in a telephone interview. North Dakota law gives the company the right to request a hearing to challenge the fine.

The proposed Public Service Commission fine includes a negligence penalty of $1,500, and was increased by $750 because Dakota Westmoreland has had six notices in the past three years for alleged violations of state land reclamation laws, said Kevin Cramer, the commission's president. "It is a fairly serious violation," Cramer said Wednesday. "It … did cause erosion and the loss of topsoil."

Dakota Westmoreland is a unit of Westmoreland Coal Co., based in Colorado Springs, Colo. Jones said the erosion happened during unprecedented spring water runoff that caused widespread flooding in the area.

"We take our environmental responsibilities very seriously," Jones said.

The damage happened in two small drainage areas that had recently been reclaimed. They covered less than an acre of the 6,600 acres covered by the Beulah Mine's permit, Jones said. Both problems were repaired in less than eight hours.

Commissioner Tony Clark said the violation provided a demonstration of the wisdom of North Dakota's mine land reclamation rules. Near the damaged area, there was soil that had to handle similar water runoff, and did so with "minimal erosion" because proper reclamation practices had been followed, Clark said.

The Beulah Mine produces about 3 million tons of lignite annually. It supplies fuel to the Coyote power station, which is managed by Otter Tail Power Co., and to Montana-Dakota Utilities Co.'s Heskett station.

- Associated Press